Duplicate-whist cabinet.



l eeaoss.

DUPLICATE-WHIST CABINET.

Application filed January 19, 1911.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 27, 1911. Serial No. 603,578.

To all whom it may concern' Be it known that I, Umar-1 R. Hana rNG, Jr., a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Dorchester, in

the county of Suffolk and State of Massaject t-he provision of a cabinet provided Vwith a plurality of pigeon holes adapted to hold the various packs of cards to beused by the players, each pigeon hole having some designatmg 'character to indicate the player to lead in the playing of the particular pack contained therein, the cabinet being also provided with other smaller pigeon holes adapted to receive the various divisions of the packs when played, these smaller pigeon holes being arranged in vertical rows, each4 vertical row containing all of the cards of the pack and being provided with some character to designate the player to lead when the various hands are to be played a second time. The cabinet is revolubly mounted upon a base, and each compartment reference to the description of is provided with a doorl or other closure which may be closed and locked to retain the cards in the various pigeon holes during the rotations of the cabinet when all of the various packs have been played once by each side, so that the players will be unable to ascertain what hands they are playing during the second game.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be readily understood by the drawings and to the claims hereinafter given.

Of the drawing: Figure 1 represents an elevation of a cabinet embodying the features of the present invention, with the door to one of the compartments shown open. Fig. 2 represents a similar view of the left side of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 represents a vertical section through the cabinet, the cutting plane being on line 3-3 on Fig. 4, and Fig. 4 represents a horizontal section of the same, the cutting plane being on line 4-4 on Fig. 2.

Similar characters designate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

In the drawing, 10 represents a base provided with a vertical pintle 11 extending upwardly from the base 10 through the cabinet 12. The base is provided on each side with a character 10 to designate the player, as for instance, N, E, S, W. This cabinet 12 is composed of 'a bottom plate 13, a top plate 14, and a plurality of boxes 15, preferably four, interposed between the top and bottom plates and secured thereto. Each box 15 forms a compartment 16 adapted to be closed by a door 17 hinged at 18 and locked by means of any suitable securing device 19. It is obvious that any kind of a closure may be used in lieu of the hinged door without altering the principles of the present invention.

lVithin each compartment is a plurality of pigeon holes 20 in a vertical row, each pigeon hole 2O being of a size adapted to receive the ordinary pack of playing cards. Upposite each pigeon hole 20 is a character 21, such as the letters N, E, S, 1V, adapted to designate the player who is to lead when either of the packs within the pigeon holes 20 are played. Each compartment is also provided with a plurality of vertical rows of smaller pigeon holes 22, the number oi" rows being equal to the number of pigeon holes 20 in each compartment. The number of pigeon holes 22 in each vert-ical row is equal to the number of players, for instance, four. When the pack normally positioned within the pigeon hole 2O opposite the designating character E has been taken there from and played, each player takes the cards held by him and places them in the right hand row of pigeon holes 22 opposite the character 23 upon the door 17, that is his own designat-ion during the game. These various divisions of the pack first played remain in the right hand row of pigeon holes until all of the packs have been played, and the hands therefrom similarly distributed, when the various hands will be played by the opponents of those first playing them. On the bottom plate 13, beneath each vertical row of pigeon holes 22 is a character 24. which designates the player who on the second round is to lead from the hands contained within said pigeon holes 22.

When the second pack is taken from the compartment 20 opposite the designating character 21, namely S, and this pack has been played, the various hands therefrom are placed in the pigeon holes 22 in the center row. When the pack has been taken from the lower pigeon hole 20 and played the hands therefrom are placed in the pigeon holes 22 in the left vertical row. When all the packs have been taken from the pigeon holes 2O shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and have been played, and the hands replaced in the smaller pigeon holes 22, the door 17 of this compartment is closed and the cabinet 15 is turned in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 4, until the left side of the cabinet as shown in Fig. 1 is brought opposite the opera-tor. The door 17 of that side is opened then and the packs in the pigeon holes 20 opposite the designating characters S, 7, N, as shown in Fig. 2 are successively played, and the hands replaced in the pigeon holes 22, as heretofore' described. The packs in the pigeon holes 20 of the other compartments 16 are then played in the same manner and the hands replaced in the pigeon holes 22 of each compartment. 1V hen all of the packs have been thus used and all of the pigeon holes 22 are lilled with the Various hands already played, the base 10 is turned a quarter turn so that each player will be given a new designating character, N, E, S, or IN, as the case may be, and the door 17 of Fig. 1 is again opened, and the divisions of the pack contained in the right hand pigeon holes 22 are taken by the players in accordance with their new designating characters, and the lead is as indicated by the designating characters 21 on the bottom plate 13 below each vertical row of pigeon holes 22. When the pack in the righthand row has again been played the hands are replaced in the pigeon holes 22 in the same manner as heretofore indicated, and the same operation continues for all of the other packs contained within the cabinet. Vxhen all of the packs have been played a second time, the doors 17 are all closed and locked and the cabinet is revolved rapidly about t-he pintle 11, and when it stops, whichever door is opposite the operator is opened and a new game is commenced. By revolving the cabinet in this mamier it is impossible when the new game has been commenced for the players to remember what cards were held by their opponents, even if they should by chance obtain the same hands that they had previously played. Each side of the base 10 is provided with a different suit character' 25, and the cabinet itself may be provided with some indicating mark at one corner, as for instance, an arrow 26 as shown in Fig. 2, so

` that the trumps may beselected by the revolution of the cabinet, the-arrow 26 when the cabinet stops pointing to the trump to be used. This makes a very convenient form of cabinet for duplicate whist players, providing a means for holding the packs to be used and making a convenient provision for the reception of the various hands played so that the hands played by one side will always go to the opponents upon the second round. The use of this cabinet obviates the use of a plurality of trays commonly used, which are liable to become mixed and are often in the way during the game, while they sometimes become spilled, mixing up the hands so that all track of the game is lost.

It is believed that the operation and many advantages of the invention will be thoroughly understood without any further description.

claim:

1. In a device o-f the class described, a plurality of inclosed compartments each provided with a plurality of pigeon holes for the recept-ion of some of the packs of cards to be played and a plurality of smaller pigeon holes for the reception of the various hands when played from the packs contained in said compartment.

2. In a device of the class described, a plurality of compartments each provided with a plurality of pigeon holes for the reception of some of the packs of cards to be played and a plurality of smaller pigeon holes for the reception of the various hands when played from the packs contained in said compartment, the pigeon holes for the hands of said packs being' arranged in parallel rows.

3. In a device of the class described, a plurality of compartments each provided with a plurality of pigeon holes for the reception of some of the packs of cards to be played and a plurality of smaller pigeon holes for the reception of the various hands when Having thus described my invention, I

played from the packs contained in said comf partment, the pigeon holes for the hands of each pack being arranged in a row, combined with characters permanently fixed opposite said smaller pigeon holes to designate the players by whom the hands have been played, and other characters opposite each row of smaller pigeon holes to designate the lead for each pack when the packs are to be played a second time.

4. In a device'of'the class described, a plurality of compartments each provided with. a plurality of pigeon holes for the reception of some of the packs of cards to be played and a plurality of smaller pigeon holes for the reception-of the various hands of each pack when played from the packs in each compartment, combined with characters opposite each larger pigeon hole to designate thelplayer to lead in the playing of each pac i.

5. In a device of the class described, a plurality of compartments eachprovided with a plurality of pigeon holes for the reception of some of the packs of cards to be played and a plurality of smaller pigeon holes for the reception of the various hands when 'of compartments; a plurality of pigeon holes in each compartment for the reception of the packs of cards; a plurality of smaller pigeon holes in each compartment for the reception of the various hands when played; and a designating character on 'each side of said base.

8. In a device of the class described, the combination of a base; a cabinet revolubly mounted thereon provided with a plurality of compartments; ak plurality of pigeon holes in each compartment for the reception of the packs of cards; a plurality of smallerV pigeon holes in each compartment for the reception of the various hands when played; and a differentsuit character on each side of said base.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination of a cabinet provided with a plurality of compartments; a hinged door for each compartment provided on its inner face with characters to designate the various players; and a plurality of rows of pigeon holes in each compartment the pigeon holes of each row being opposite the designating characters on said door.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination of a cabinet provided with a plurality of compartments; a hinged door for each compartment provided on its inner face with characters to designate the various players; a plurality of vertical rows of pigeon holes in each compartment the pigeon holes of each vertical row being opposite said designating characters; and characters opposite each vertical row to designate the player to lead when the hands in said pigeon holes are again played.

11. In a device of the class described, the combination of a base; a revoluble cabinet thereon provided with a plurality of compartments; a hinged door for each compartment provided on its inner face with characters to designate the various players; and a plurality of vertical rows of pigeon holes in each compartment the pigeon holes of each vertical row being opposite said designating characters.

12. In a device of the class described, the combination of a cabinet provided with a plurality of compartments; a hinged door for each compartment provided on its inner face with characters to designate the various players; a plurality of vertical rows of pigeon holes in each compartment the pigeon holes of each vertical row being opposite said designating characters; and a plurality of pigeon holes in cach compartment for the reception of the packs of cards to be played.

13. In a device of the class described, the combination of a cabinet provided with a plurality of compartments; a plurality of parallel rows of pigeon holes in each compartment each row being adapted to receive the various hands of a single pack when played; characters opposite the pigeon holes of said rows to designate the players by whom certain hands in all of said rows were played; and characters opposite each row containing the hands of a single pack to designate the player to lead when said hands are played a second time.

14. In a device of the class described, a plurality of compartments each provided with a plurality of parallel rows of pigeon holes the pigeon holes of one row being larger than those of the other rows and adapted to receive entire packs of playing cards while the smaller pigeon holes of each of the other rows are adapted to receive the hands of one of said packs when played.

Signed by me at 4 P. O. Sq., Boston, Mass., this 17th day of January, 1911.

URIAH R. HARDING, JR.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. LOMBARD, NATHAN C. LOMBARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

